You can make a career change yourself, or have it thrust upon you. Either way it can be scary.

When you’re in your 40s or 50s, leaving a job you’ve had for years makes you feel the way a snail would feel about having its shell removed – it may have weighed you down and slowed your progress, but losing it hurt you a lot, and now you’re unprotected and on your own against the world. And a slug.